


Left Turn

by esama



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before his death Pegasus makes one last game changing move.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Desecrate

**Author's Note:**

> Proofread by Darlene

When Pegasus woke up, he was no longer on the island. It was plainly obvious, with the stark white ceiling above him, rather than the soothing grey stone of the Duellist Kingdom island's castle. And with that god-awful beeping he knew oh so well, as well as the smell – sterile and stark and unpleasant… it could only be one place.

"Hah," he murmured. "Didn't see that coming."

There was a multitude of electrodes across his chest, and his finger was squeezed by one of those pulse oxiometry sensors.  For some reason the first thing he thought at the sight and feel of it was how, back when he'd been too young to understand much anything, he'd thought there was a needle in the sensor, that it hurt to wear it. Back then he'd thought all medical equipment had needles in them somewhere.

It was weird thinking back to it now, looking at the sensor – weird to look at it with one eye. Not that he'd seen that well with the Millennium eye anyway – it didn't really _see_ the same way his normal human eye saw. But he had had some mockery of depth perception which was now gone, and now his hand looked like a photograph or a video. Flat and lifeless.

There was a bandage over the left side of his face and even without touching it he could tell it was absolutely soaked through with blood.

"How long?" he asked, closing his single eye.

"The doctors say less than twenty four hours," Croquet answered because of course, _of course_ he was there. "You have a severe case of cranial bleeding – your optic nerve… well. They tried to operate, but as soon as they could staunch the bleeding, it started again."

"It would," Pegasus agreed tiredly and opened his eye, glancing at his side where his most loyal – most _foolish_ – servant sat. "The island? The tournament?"

"Technically still going, seeing that we haven't yet released the competitors of the finals," Croquet answered calmly. "They're still being housed on the island, enjoying the best of Industrial Illusion's hospitality. The Kaiba brothers took a helicopter off the island late last night – technically early this morning, really – but Mutou Yugi and his companions are still on the island. Waiting for his prize for winning the tournament."

"Hmm," Pegasus hummed and lifted a hand to touch the bloody bandage. He wondered for a moment what Croquet had done to get the doctors off him – by all reason they should be fussing all over him, trying to save his life right now, putting him through dozens of surgeries until he died under the knife. People of his stature weren't just _left to die_ even if there was no hope, no. There was far too much money involved for that.

But Croquet knew, as well as he did. One couldn't shove a bit of ancient magic into a man's brain and expect it to work properly once that bit is torn out again. Surgeries would've just wasted what little time he had.

"I released everyone then?" he asked, his memory a little hazy. The last he could remember was Yugi-boy beating him in a duel – and not even a fair duel. All the power and advances Pegasus had managed to muster against him, and Yugi-boy had defeated him, quite soundly too. But if the Kaiba brothers had gotten off the island, then he had released their souls at least.

"Yes, sir, you did," Croquet assured him. "Mutou Sugoroku is still in the hospital recovering, but aside from that, it's all undone."

"Good, good…"

All his dreams and hopes, his designs, his _plans_ … in trying to reach for everything – Kaiba Corporation, the Millennium Items, ancient power and a way to turn around the circle of life – he was left with nothing. Twenty four hours – probably not even as much, if his splitting headache was anything to go by. It wasn't much, after a life of luxury, riches, heart break, and a seven year long quest to resurrect the dead.

"You know," he murmured a little blearily. "It figures really. Seven Items. Seven sins. Mine, I guess, is pride."

Croquet said nothing to that – but the man's silence had always been more expressive than his words, and Pegasus almost smiled at the agreement in it. He was Pride and pridefully he'd reached for everything. And that… that boy – he _almost_ remembered what he looked like. The white haired boy. He was Greed, through and through.

And Mutou Yugi was Wrath.

Gods in _hell_ only knew what Shadi was. Pegasus didn't even want to know.

"The – the paperwork," he said, trying to shake himself out from the spiralling darkness. He opened his eye – when had he closed it? – and turned to look at his not-quite-butler. "You have it?"

"Yes, sir," Croquet assured him, bending down to pick up a smooth black briefcase from the floor, settling it in his lap. "All the necessary forms are right here."

Pegasus swallowed and for a moment his thoughts _listed_ to the side and he wondered what paperwork – for the casino, for the house, the mansion, the island, what? His old school records? No, that couldn't be it. "I'm losing my mind," he murmured.

"You have cranial bleeding, sir," Croquet said, plain and wry as anything.

"Bastard," Pegasus murmured and took a breath and forced himself to _think_ and yes, yes, he remembered now. The paperwork.

How funny it was, that he'd had it drawn up mostly as a sort of private joke. No one was supposed to even _know_. Croquet wasn't supposed to know – though of course he did, because Croquet was a sneaky son of a bitch when people weren't looking, his blank expression aside. Croquet, Pegasus thought, would've been an utterly terrifying holder for a Millennium Item. The world probably wouldn't have survived it.

"Where's the Eye?" Pegasus asked, world blurring away again, and he wasn't sure of anything, just that the Eye wasn’t in his head anymore.

"It was stolen, sir," Croquet said, his fingers working smoothly over the electronic lock of the briefcase, punching in the code. He opened it with a sharp click. "It was stolen and you're dying, sir."

"Right, right," Pegasus agreed. "And Mutou Yugi won, right. It was a… good match, wasn't it?"

"I wouldn't know, sir. It got quite dark, towards the end."

Pegasus almost laughed at that because, hell, Croquet made a _joke_! But laughing would've hurt even more than bleeding to death did, so he didn't. His second option was to glare at the man for his impertinence, but he couldn't do that either, so he just blinked blearily. "You're not funny, Croquet," he informed his not-quite-butler.

You didn't get _butlers_ at good as Croquet. And butlers didn't come from the mafia. Did Croquets come from the mafia? He wasn't quite sure.

"No, sir," Croquet agreed without looking up from the briefcase and for a moment Pegasus wondered if the man could read his mind after all – but no, he was answering his words, not his thoughts. "Would you like to go over the paperwork, sir?"

"Do I need to?" Pegasus asked and glanced past Croquet, to the wall behind him. There was text there – just couple of, uh… words, they were called. He couldn't make them out. The letters were jumping around. "I don't think I can read right now."

Or ever again.

"Right," Croquet answered and he sounded _quiet_.

And Pegasus thought, thought… he was _dying_. The thought bounced around his head, back and forth, side to side, dying, dying, _dying_. Here ended Pegasus _Maximillion_ Crawford, the last of the prestigious, ridiculously rich Crawford family, done in by, what… a kid with white hair and a ball of gold?

"My father will _kill me_ ," Pegasus murmured and he maybe was crying. Maybe. He might've been bleeding too. No, he _was_ bleeding. And maybe crying.

"Your father is dead, sir," Croquet commented idly.

Pegasus closed his eye at that and inhaled shakily and yes, yes, that was quite right. Herackles Craford was quite dead – and damn his family for its stupid sense of naming too. The old man had been killed by… by… Pegasus couldn't quite remember anymore. It didn't matter. Pegasus was dying and it didn't matter how his father had died, because the old man had died years ago and now Pegasus was dying too, in a hospital, in Japan.

Cecilia had died in a hospital too – in the US. It had been a while ago. Years ago.

The hurt was still there.

"Do you think I'll see her?" he whispered and he was sure he was crying now. It hurt like _hell_.

"I hope so, sir," Croquet said and now he sounded kind and that was weird enough to shake Pegasus back to himself and out of the spiralling mire of oncoming death.

"The paperwork," he said, pushing his thoughts in order. "I should sign it. It is ready, right?"

"Yes, sir. Just waiting for your name now."

Croquet pulled the bedside table closer, spreading out the foldable part so that it was in Pegasus's reach. His hand was almost gentle over Pegasus', as he put a pen in his fingers and then guided the tip to the line. It took effort to make the signature properly, but long years of signing important documents paid off – it came naturally. Muscle memory.

"Good?" Pegasus asked.

"Quite," Croquet assured him and moved his hand. "Now again."

Pegasus lost count how many signatures he wrote – dozens, hundreds maybe, who knew. By the time he was finished, his fingers were numb and his vision was going dark – either the bleeding was spreading or pressing on something, or he was just getting too tired to hold his single eye open. It didn't matter.

"Is it done?" Pegasus asked, closing his eye, giving up on vision.

"Yes, it's done, sir," Croquet assured.

"And it's proper, binding?"

"Four witnesses, two videos, and copies of the unsigned documents have already been sent to your lawyers and to a judge. Everything is covered, sir, it's proper and binding," Croquet promised and there was a click of the briefcase as he put the documents away. "It's done."

"Good," Pegasus whispered. "Good."

He could see it behind his eyelid. The Duellist Kingdom, the way he wished it could be. It would've become his headquarters, the island. He owned it – he'd build the castle and the under ground complex, not merely for the tournament, but for future business. If only he could've gained control of Kaiba Corporation, it would've been a…

And he would've had other tournaments there. The Duellist Kingdom was supposed to become a new annual tournament in Japan – where Duel Monsters was surprisingly popular. The island was covered in cameras just to that end – to watch the competitors and record their every move. It was supposed to be the perfect stage.

And there was that pride again.

"Do you think I did good?" Pegasus asked quietly, not bothering to open his eye. "Did I… do _anything_ right? What I did, the Duellist Kingdom –"

He'd done… many abhorrent deeds, along the years. Before and after the creation of Industrial Illusions – he'd been mired knee deep in things people didn't talk about, his hands bloodied all the way up to his shoulders way before the Millennium Eye had entered the picture. There were always sharks in the waters when games of money were being played, and he'd made damn sure he was one of those sharks and not their victim.

The Duellist Kingdom was just a tip in the ice berg – stranger and slightly darker than the mountain of ice beneath it perhaps, but only due to the unnaturalness of the magic involved. The business aspect of it – well. It was nothing he hadn't done before.

Croquet didn't answer at first and for a moment Pegasus was sure he'd left – which would've been just as right. His not-quite-butler had no obligation to him anymore, after all. But there was a shift of cloth and the creak of a chair.

"The Duellist Kingdom will pale in comparison what will follow. Some will remember – those involved. But the world? The world will forget very quickly," Croquet assured finally. "To them it will be just the last hurrah of a great man."

"Great," Pegasus murmured.

"Yes," Croquet said, quiet, gentle – maybe even sad. "You created a magnificent, incredibly popular card game, and for that accomplishment alone you will be remembered for decades, for _centuries_. Duel Monsters has given joy to millions, it has entertained hundreds of thousands of children world wide. They will never forget you."

Croquet trailed away and cleared his throat. "So yes, Pegasus Maximillion Crawford," he finished.  "You did something right."

Pegasus smiled at that. "That's alright then," he whispered. "That's… that's enough."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup peeps. Not much to say about this one yet. It is a thing. Hopefully, a good thing.
> 
> I'm mixing and matching Manga and Anime canon here as it suits me, so some things adhere to one canon and others to the other. The character death is Pegasus, so no need to worry about that - at least not unless told otherwise later on. Pairing status is still kind of undecided, if this develops that way then it does and I'll retag it accordingly. (If there will be pairing, it will be Yugi/Kaiba, and/or possibly some canon pairing. Jou/Mai might happen. Dunno yet.)


	2. Two Roads

It had been a day since his duel with Pegasus, and Yugi still felt exhausted. He'd managed to hide it from his friends for the most part after the first few hours when it seemed natural to be tired. But even now his legs felt weak and cold, and whenever he stood up too fast the world spun and darkness flickered at the outer corners of his vision.

The Shadow Games really took a toll on you.

"I'm sorry," his other self commented, grimacing. "If I had been – if I had figured out a strategy before, you wouldn't have needed to –"

 _'Its fine,'_ Yugi assured him, running a hand over his face. Pegasus had been too good and too sneaky – he'd taken then both by surprise. Well, of course the man would _have_ to be good – he'd created Duel Monsters in the first place, after all, he knew the game in and out. It was never going to be easy. But the Shadow Game had taken them both by surprise. There was no way for them to prepare for that properly, even if the use of the Millennium Eye had been somewhat predictable. Pegasus had used it on the tape, after all.

It didn't matter now. They'd won, Mokuba, Kaiba and Grandpa had all been released. A few more days and Yugi would feel better. He just… he just needed to get off the island. Then a bit of rest and proper food – none of this weird American cuisine but something _real_ – and he'd be just fine.

The spirit scowled at him, obviously sensing his state.

 _'It's fine,'_ Yugi repeated, looking up at him and smiling. He could see the wall and the window behind the spirit and the whole thing would take some getting used to – the whole spirit thing would take getting used to. The days on the island wouldn't be enough for him to feel completely comfortable with the whole thing. But the concern was still nice. Weird and nice. And maybe it was in part because he was the spirit's host and it wasn't like the spirit could exist without him – or, who knew, maybe he could. Regardless. It was nice to be _worried after_.

 _'We'll just wait to get the prize money, give it to Jou and then we're out of here,'_ Yugi thought and made to stand up from the bed where he'd been sitting. His vision went bright and blurry for a moment and he inhaled deeply, waiting it for the pass. _'We'll get home, see Grandpa, and… and recover.'_

The spirit said nothing, just watched him as Yugi walked to the private bathroom connected to the special suite he'd been given as the victor of the tournament. There Yugi washed his face with cold water, trying to get proper feeling back to his face, to his – trying to feel like his soul wasn't about to fly out of his body at any moment.

After knowingly and consciously being _outside it_ , being inside again was strangely off-putting.

 _'Do you want me to take over?'_ the spirit asked quietly from the other room.

Yugi considered that seriously for a moment – it was easier when the spirit was in control, he had an easier time handling the weird disconnection of body and soul. _'No, I need to…'_ Yugi started and trailed off, a little unsure what he needed to do. To get used to it, maybe? _'Just give me a couple of days, I'll be fine,'_ he said.

They said puberty brought with it all sort of changes. He really hadn't expected _being a ghost for a while_ to be one of them, really.

"Yugi!"  A voice called, and a fist pounded on the door in the bedroom. "Croquet's back!"

"I'll be there in a moment, Jou!" Yugi called out of the bathroom, and looked at his reflection. He looked like… well. Like he'd spend the night cramming for a maths test, actually. Shaking his head he reached for a towel and wiped himself dry before pushing away from the sink.

When he stepped out the bathroom, the spirit was gone. Shaking his head, Yugi picked up his jacket from the bed and then headed to the door. Jonouchi, Anzu, Honda and Bakura were all waiting outside, none of them looking worse for wear for spending another night at PegasusCastle.

"You okay, buddy?" Honda asked, looking him over.

"Fine," Yugi said with a smile. "Did Pegasus come back too?"

"No, just Croquet and that other guy, Kemo; plus an army of goons in suits, you know, like before," Jou shrugged. "They're waiting in the dining room. Mai's there too, but Keith's still who knows where."

 _'Dead, actually,'_ the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle supplied.

"Ah," Yugi said, and somehow managed to keep his expression blank. Dead. Right. "Let's go then."

"Did you sleep well?" Anzu asked worriedly as they headed along the long, impressive corridors of the castle and towards the grand dining room where the matchups had been decided.

"I slept fine," Yugi smiled – he hadn't slept at all. "But I'll definitely sleep better when we're off this island."

"Yeah, me too," Honda murmured. "It was pretty cool in the beginning but this place is giving me the creeps now."

"Yeah, no kidding," Jou said, glaring around them.

Bakura was looking around, seeming to share none of their unease. "Do you know, this place is pretty new," he commented. "I don't think this place is five years old, if even that."

"What? You're kidding me – it looks ancient," Jou argued.

"Yes, and medieval European castles are very common in Japan, absolutely," Anzu said with a snort and shook her head.

"You can tell it's new just by looking at it – it's been aged, the same way you age a new cabinet to make it look old," Bakura said thoughtfully, trailing a hand along the stone wall. "It's been… worn down, deliberately. But if you look closely, it's obvious it's been done artificially, with power tools. This is not stone, though," he said, knocking his knuckles again the wall. "Concrete, actually. And the mortar's obviously modern."

"You know, the modern security system, electrical wiring in the walls, the lights and all probably that should've clued you in," Honda said, glancing at Jonouchi. "And, you know. The Duel Monsters arenas everywhere."

"Yeah, yeah," Jou grimaced. "Doesn't make the place any less creepy, does it?"

 _'Or any less fortifiable,'_ the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle commented. _'Mind you, there are far too many open windows here.'_

Yugi smiled faintly at that and looked ahead as they approached the dining hall doors. Somehow he ended up in front and so was the one to push them open ahead of everyone else. The dining hall had been set again – this time not with dinner, but with platefuls of finger food, all of it very fancy looking – rolls and little pastry cups and chips and little sandwiches and beautifully arranged fruit bites on sticks and so on and so on.

While Jou went for the plate of bacon and cheese cups, Yugi looked up at Mai who stood to the side, arms folded and looking out of the window rather than at the table, or at Croquet who stood at the end of it. "Hey, Mai," he greeted her. "I thought you left."

"Yugi," she said, glancing back and smiling. "I was shamelessly enjoying the luxury of my suite while I could, actually. I'll be leaving on the same chopper as you guys."

Yugi grinned. The rooms all had a Jacuzzi – and he'd enjoyed his too. It had gone a long way towards helping him recover from the Shadow Game, actually – if not all of the way. "Guess we won't be saying goodbyes just yet, then," he said and then turned his attention to Croquet.

"Where's Pegasus?" Jonouchi asked, scowling at the head of Pegasus's security.

The moustached man glanced up from the briefcase he was holding and then, after a moment, tugged off his sunglasses, folding them and tucking them into his jacket. "Dead," he said simply.

Yugi blinked at that and for a moment there was silence in the room, stunned and disbelieved. "Wait," he said as the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle appeared at his side, not quite as shocked as he was, but surprised. "What? _Dead_? Pegasus is --?"

"Dead. He died this morning at St. Balthazar Private Hospital in Domino," Croquet said, taking a remote control and activating the nearly wall sized screen at the end of the room. It displayed a news cast from Domino Central TV's News. It was on silent, but there was a picture of Pegasus on the screen beside the grim looking news anchor, with the words _due to complications from a previous injury…_ scrolling beneath it.

"Oh my fu –" Jonouchi started and then gritted his teeth.

"Jesus Christ," Mai murmured faintly.

Yugi swallowed, glancing at his other self who scowled up at the screen. "I-it wasn't because of the game, was it?" he asked worriedly. Pegasus had seemed fine – hell, he'd instigated the use of Shadow Powers in the game in the first place! He seemed to have handled it better than Yugi and his spirit _combined_!

"No. Someone forcibly removed the prosthetic eye he had, leading to complications," Croquet said calmly, setting the remote down.

Well that didn't precisely make Yugi feel any better. Sure, he'd heard that something – that something _happened_. Shadi had appeared and… well. But he hadn't realised that Pegasus had _died_ , that he would die, that…

"It's because of the Eye," the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle said quietly. "It was… too invasive. And he used it too much, too carelessly. That was why it was so powerful, why he had so many abilities – it was so deep in him, deep enough to have rooted into his body as well as his soul. When it was removed…"

Yugi swallowed, thanking _someone_ _somewhere_ that his Millennium Item wasn't actually physically incorporated into his body. "What does this mean, then?" he asked faintly. "F-for us?"

Croquet said nothing for a moment, just aimed his attention down at the briefcase and opening it. He pulled out a letter. "First," he said. "Congratulations for winning the tournament. As the victor, you're entitled to this," he said, and held it out. "A cheque for two hundred thousand dollars – twenty four million and two hundred thousand yen."

Jou let out a choked sound as Yugi stepped forward to accept the letter.

"Mr. Crawford also designed this," Croquet added, handing Yugi a single Duel Monsters card. "It is one of a kind."

Yugi accepted it too, looking it over. It had a picture of the woman in Pegasus's painting. Bonds of Friendship, it was named. "Thank you," he said and quietly added the card to his deck, for later perusal. He then turned to Jonouchi, and held out the letter. "Here."

"You sure, Yug?" Jonouchi asked, half eager and half despairing. "Because man, that's a lot of money."

"I'm sure. Use it to help your sister," Yugi smiled. He wasn't entirely sure what he would've done with that sort of money anyway. "It'll make this whole mess worth it."

The blond swallowed and took the letter. "T-thanks, Yug," he said, staring at it. "I don't even… just… _thanks_."

"Don't mention it," Yugi said, with a little bit of the weight on his shoulders easing at the bright smile Jou gave him.

Croquet watched the exchange silently and turned his attention back to the briefcase. "Lastly," he said and took out a very fancy looking folder, bound in a sort of embossed, rich paper, bound with red ribbon. "This. You might want to look over it in private, Mr. Mutou," he said, handing it over to Yugi.

Yugi frowned even as he accepted it. "Whatever it is, my friends are entitled to see it," he said and then looked down. "Oh," he said faintly, his eyes going wide.

 _Industrial Illusions_ it read on the cover in golden, embossed letters.

"You've been named the main – and in fact the _only_ – beneficiary in Mr. Crawford's Last Will and Testament," Croquet informed him. "Which makes you entitled to all he owned. Including but not limited to a 61.2% share in Industrial Illusions stock, making you its primary shareholder and, by default, its owner and president."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See what I'm doing now? See where I'm getting at? Eh, eh?
> 
> >:D


	3. Breathe

It had been a joke. Or so they had thought.

Before their duel, before they'd faced against Pegasus, Croquet had said it. With the card, the King's Left, there were two choices. The card was empty, vacant of anything concrete and full of possibility. So, if they won they could fill it however they wished. They could demand anything from Industrial Illusions – money, cards, the Duellist Kingdom island, even the very company itself. And if they lost they _became_ the card, like Grandpa, like Mokuba – like Kaiba. One more added to Pegasus's collection.

It _had_ been a joke. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle was absolutely sure of that. Just as sure as Pegasus had been of his own victory in the duel. The man had never had any intention of bending to any such demands because he had never had any intention of losing – the very thought had never crossed his mind, so sure he'd been. And even when he did lose, the spirit hadn't really expected the card or its two edged use to be brought up again at all. No, neither Pegasus nor his company had ever meant to honour that joking mockery of an offer.

It had been a joke – up until the point where Pegasus had fallen onto his own sword.

"Yugi?" he said quietly, looking between his partner and the white, fancy folder in his hand. His partner was staring at it, his face void of expression.

Their friends were making faces at each other but not saying a word, Mai had stepped closer with an intense look on her face but she had done so silently, and the small army of security guards were all looking at Yugi – who was not moving. Everything was frozen now – holding breath, waiting for Yugi to react.

"Yugi," the spirit said again. Yugi's face was pale and his lips - "Inhale. Inhale – _now_!"

Yugi drew a breath, surprised and shuddering. He seemed to come back to himself and glanced up with a blink, at Croquet who was steadily staring at him. He glanced back at Jou and the others. "I, uh…" he started and then turned to look down at the folder again. _Industrial Illusions_ gleamed on the cover, slick and pristine and golden.

"Why Yug?" Jonouchi asked, turning to Croquet. "Why did Pegasus leave it all to Yugi? Didn't he have, like… relatives or something? Sisters, brothers, fourteenth cousins a trillion times removed, anything?"

Croquet glanced at him and then back at Yugi. "It is my belief he wanted to leave the company to someone who knew Duel Monsters," he said. "And who would do better for the game, rather than someone who was in it for the business and profit alone."

Yeah, right, was the spirit's first reaction to that. Maybe in part he could see Pegasus thinking something along those lines. Mostly he couldn't help but think this was one last come-uppance at someone. Maybe at Yugi for beating him – dumping all his problems in the lap of the one who defeated him. Or maybe at Kaiba and his traitorous board of directors – it would probably make some sort of twisted sense, to leave it all to the very person who had made so much trouble for the Kaiba Corporation. Or hell, at someone they didn't know anything about. Pegasus probably had had a whole slew of enemies.

Yugi said nothing to that – or to the spirit's admittedly somewhat vicious thoughts. He turned away instead and to the dining table, pulling out a chair for himself before sitting down. Then, with a hand that shook only very slightly, Yugi eased the red silk ribbon loose and opened the folder.

 _Industrial Illusions, Company Mandate_ , read in English at the top of the very first page, sprawling across the page in a fancy, curling font. Beneath it were three columns of tightly packed English text, which Yugi read over slowly while everyone waited with baited breath. Then, silently, he turned the page. Duel Monsters read the next page and this time the spirit couldn't help but lean in, and to read over Yugi's shoulder.

It was a summary of the company, with a bit of its history, its products and its goals. It was and wasn't a surprise to find that Industrial Illusions had been build on Duel Monsters – in fact Duel Monsters had begun first and Industrial Illusions had been build around it's initial success and popularity in the US. Since then the company had spread to cover other things – first toys and posters and other such products that were based around Duel Monsters. Then came the tournaments, the spin off games, and eventually the other games released under the company's insignia. Capsule Monsters, Dungeon Dice Monsters, and about two dozen others, all Industrial Illusions trademark.

The spirit scowled, no entirely sure what to think of it. Of course he and everyone with two brain cells to rub together had known that Industrial Illusions was big. But this big? According to the summary it employed thousands of people world wide – everything from artists and translators to mathematicians, to marketing staff, to business people, all the people from office workers to cleaning staff required to run a headquarters smoothly, and that without even getting to the factories. Industrial Illusions had _seven_ factories – and not a single one of them particularly small.

The Spirit folded his arms and turned to look at Croquet and the other security goons, while Yugi leafed through the company rules to the thick swathe of documents concerning company shares and what he now, apparently, owned. Croquet was still watching Yugi – like a hawk or maybe a vulture. The spirit had counted about twenty security guards on the entire island – plus about as many other staff, such as cooks and janitorial staff. If he was right about Croquet's position in the company – which he was pretty sure he _was_ – then they were all under Croquet's command. They, and the rest of the company besides.

With Pegasus dead, how easy would it have been for Croquet to take over? If there was a will, then Croquet probably could've made it disappear, with all the power of the company behind him. It very easily could've never reached Yugi's – or anyone's – ears or eyes. Pegasus could've just died quietly on the sidelines, leaving the company to Croquet and no one would've been the wiser.

Pegasus didn't seem like a man who inspired loyalty, not unto death. It didn't make _sense_ that Croquet would be honouring Pegasus's wishes now.

The tension in the room seemed only to grow as Yugi slowly went through the documents held in the folder, reading each one with the sort of intense concentration he usually only gave to game manuals. The spirit could feel it, how the knowledge accumulated in Yugi's mind, but he no longer had that familiar instant access to Yugi's psyche he'd had before they'd became fully aware of one another. There was separation there now forced on them by Pegasus, and Yugi's mind and knowledge was his own, his thoughts hidden when he didn't intentionally broadcast them.

Just as well. As much as this felt like a game – and a sinister one at that – it was also very real, it wasn't only momentary. This had to do with the very nature of Yugi's _life_. And Yugi's life, well. As much as the spirit wanted to protect him from the hurts of it, it was still his life. He had to live it – the spirit couldn't take it on. If he would then he'd be no better than Bakura's twisted companion was – if not worse.

By the time Yugi finished, over an hour later, their friends had quietly made themselves comfortable at the other end of the table, tense and nervous, but trying to be patient. None of them talked – neither did the employees of Industrial Illusions. The air was too thick for speech. But the anticipation and potential for questions and arguments was almost palpable.

Quietly Yugi closed the folder, resting his hand on it, and everyone looked up, expectant.

 _'My other self?'_ he asked, not moving.

"I'm here," the spirit said, reaching out and laying a hand on his partner's shoulder. He didn't say anything else, didn't need to – Yugi leaned into the touch, his relief radiating through the touch.

 _'It's mine,'_ Yugi thought. _'It's all mine. I thought… I thought it would be like a choice – a contract, you know? Like it wouldn't be official until I signed the papers. But that's not it at all. It's just mine. Well, I can disclaim it; refuse to accept it – but…'_

"Breathe, Yugi," the spirit said quietly.

Yugi drew a shuddering breath. _'I don't even have to sign anything. It's just mine by default, unless I disclaim it. And I-I would have to talk to lawyers and - and the board of directors and go through all sorts of trouble to get rid of it and… and,'_ he trailed off and rubbed a hand over his face. _'Industrial Illusions, my other self. All of it. He just… left it to me.'_

"Sounds quite troublesome to me," the spirit said – though not all of it. He was suspicious and worried and damn sure there was another shoe somewhere high up, waiting to drop. But some of it, some hint of it… there was something in it that seemed almost… familiar.

 _'Yeah,'_ Yugi thought and then looked up. "Croquet," he said, making their friends start a little. "There's… more, isn't there?"

"Yes, that is just the company papers," the man agreed and took out another folder, holding it out. "This is a summary of the more personal part of the inheritance."

The personal inheritance included the things that weren't involved with the company and were simply under Pegasus own name. It included several private properties – the largest of which was the Duellist Kingdom island. There were houses and mansions and such, not to mention the private planes, boats, vehicles, _horses_. Pegasus had owned more horses than he owned cars – and he owned over _fifty_ cars.

And of course, there was the money. A lot of it was in the stock exchange, with an estimation of values. The monetary bit of it was bad enough though. There was ten digits worth of it. And that was in _dollars_.

Yugi's hands were shaking now, so the spirit leaned over him, both hands on his shoulders, leaning in with all of his incorporeal weight, trying to anchor him down. It seemed to help and Yugi managed to lay the papers down without spilling them everywhere – though his breath was still coming choked.

 _'Fucking hell,'_ Yugi thought finally and the spirit almost laughed with surprise at that. He'd never heard his partner swear before but this? This was worthy of swearing.

"Yug?" Jonouchi broke the silence carefully. "You, uh. Okay there man?"

"Might pass out, but yeah, peachy keen," Yugi said, his voice a little high pitched. "Just, uh. Give me a moment."

"Yeah, you… you just take your time."

"We're here for you," Anzu piped in quietly, eyes full of concern.

The spirit glanced at them and then back at Yugi, massaging his shoulders and trying to force some of his own energy into his partner – who hadn't even recovered from the duel yet. Yugi very well might pass out, if he didn't calm down a little. "It's okay. It's alright," he said. "Just breathe, Yugi."

Yugi breathed, his thoughts like a whirlwind under the spirit's incorporeal hands. He thought and he worried and he argued in his head, his thoughts circling and circling wildly, winding up tighter and tighter. After a moment of watching the nervous energy accumulate, the spirit reached down and took Yugi's hands – which his partner didn't even notice at first.

By the time Yugi finally looked down to see what he was doing with his hands, the spirit had already spread out their deck before them, all across the important papers. The pictures were up and Dark Magician and Kuriboh and Celtic Knight all staring up at Yugi. It took a moment to work, but finally some of the tension eased away and Yugi reached out and ran his hand over the cards. Then, relaxing, he began to shuffle them gently, expertly, giving his fingers and mind something familiar and comfortable to anchor onto.

The spirit watched and released his hold, leaning back.

"I need to talk with Grandpa," Yugi said eventually, shuffling the cards over and over. "Before I do or decide anything, I need to talk with my grandfather."

It didn't ease the tension in the room much, but their friends relaxed a bit and Croquet and his men seemed to loose some of the severity in their postures. Croquet simply nodded. "There's a helicopter waiting for you on the landing pad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't gonna be easy for Yugi. Nope.


	4. Fortitude

Mai quietly watched over Yugi, as the boy idly kept on shuffling his cards as they walked. The documents and folders had been packed away again; Croquet, who was holding them again in his metal reinforced, electronically locked briefcase, had silently stepped into that invincible zone around the kid – not too far, not too close, present but non-obtrusive. The servant zone, she used to call it way back when she used to work on the cruiser.

None of the kids had noticed, nor did they understand the significance of it. Kaiba would've if he was still there – Mai had no doubt he had people around him who did the exact same thing to him. Yugi, if he had noticed, said nothing – he just shuffled his deck, over and over again with every step, cutting it and splicing it and shuffling, shuffling, shuffling.

Poor kid.

The others, they were worried mainly because of the way Yugi was acting now – frozen up and deep in thought with the same level of concentration he usually had showed during a duel. They hadn't yet grasped the whole mind blowing severity of the whole event. Mai could hear them, muttering ever so quietly.

"How much money do you think it is?"

"Isn't this a god thing? Yugi will be rich!"

"And think about it – the company that  _makes_  Duel Monsters!"

Slowly they were coming to the conclusion that Yugi had won the lottery or some other similar nonsense. And maybe he had, in a way. Mai herself could think of, oh, half a hundred things she could do with the sort of money Yugi had within his grasp right now. But that, hell, that was such an insignificant thing.

The last thing Pegasus had done with Industrial Illusions was to try and take over Kaiba Corp. That, along with Duellist Kingdom and it's, ah, less than stellar conduct, plus the whole thing about magical powers and whatnot. Well, it didn't make for a good legacy, did it? Especially since that was just the recent stuff. God only knew what else there was. Plus, with a company came far more than just the company money or even the company troubles. No, there were duties and mandates and who knew how many workers.

Industrial Illusions was not a small company – no, it was big enough to have a  _culture_  to it. As far as companies went, it was a small nation really. A  _kingdom_. What would Mai have done, if all of that had been thrust in her lap all of a sudden?

She would've freaked the hell out for starters, pretty much the same way Yugi was right now and with far less dignity no doubt. Then she probably would've lost her mind a bit and, who knew, bought a really, really expensive car. And some designer bags. And a room full of  _shoes_ , just to make herself feel a bit better about it. And then she would've freaked even more.

"Mai?" a tentative voice asked and she glanced back, to Mazaki, who was carefully pushing to her side. "I don't really know that much about Industrial Illusions. Um. How big is it, do you know?"

Mai blinked and then smiled faintly. "You know how big Lego is?" she asked quietly.

"Uh… pretty big? Why?"

"Industrial Illusions isn't quite  _that_  big – but it's getting there," Mai said, folding her arms. "Duel Monsters has been pretty popular since the start, it made instant profit the way I heard it. And it's, well, really is just getting started. Every year there is approximately half a dozen new tournaments announced, most of them with big prizes. Every year, the sales for cards goes up."

Duel Monsters was the perfect blend of chance and strategy and the marketing side of it was pitch perfect. You bought cards blind in packets that were deceptively cheap, really – but as a professional duellist Mai knew the  _genius_  of it. In the years she'd been playing, she'd bought  _hundreds_  of card packets - as had no doubt pretty much everyone who had gone out of their way to build the perfect deck for themselves. She didn't even want to know how much money someone like Kaiba had spent on his deck.

Even the average player bought dozens of packets, in the quest for a good deck. It piled up, it accumulated – it made Industrial Illusions a  _billion_  dollar company.

"It can't be that big, can it?" Mazaki asked, worried. "I mean, a year ago I hadn't even heard of it."

Mai shrugged. "It didn't come to Japan until pretty recently. But in America, in Europe – it's been around for seven years now." Which had been a bit of a bitch – her first deck had been all in English. She'd had to get all the Japanese versions of the cards when she'd decided to join the brand new duelling circuit in Japan – hence the  _hundreds_  of card packets and tens of thousands of yen she'd spent on her deck.

"And think about it," Mai added quietly. "What Kaiba is doing now – with the holograms? Do you have  _any_  idea how big this is going to get?"

The very world of technology had been shaken up by Kaiba's invention. The hologram tech was new and shiny and utterly unheard of – and  _exclusive to Duel Monsters_. If Kaiba was as stubborn a bastard as he seemed, it would stay exclusive to the card game for years and years. Kaiba would profit from it – it would  _make_  the man's company no doubt. But Duel Monsters itself – and Industrial Illusions?

If Duel Monsters was popular today, it would become an  _integral part of life_  in a few years. Duel Monsters would become a household name. There was no way to even measure how much it would be worth then.

There was madness and genius in the whole thing, both in equal parts. But then duellists were like that. What made a child genius and a millionaire like Kaiba Seto latch onto a game like Duel Monsters the way he had, Mai had no idea. But it would change the world. It already was.

And now Yugi had an  _owning_  share in that future.

"H-how much money do you think –" Mazaki started and trailed away, biting her lip. "No, never mind – that's… that's not the issue here, is it?"

"Not even close, no," Mai murmured, looking at Yugi. Then she looked up as they came to the grand roof of the main building of the castle, where there was a helipad – and on it, a helicopter, noisy and kicking up wind. And if nothing else had brought the gravity of the whole thing in yet, then the fact that  **I 2 **was painted on the side did.

As they watched, the co-pilot jumped out of the heli and then pulled the doors open, and Croquet and Kemo stepped aside, waiting.

Without saying a word, Yugi put his deck away and then climbed on, followed by Kemo who helped him strap himself in. While Yugi's friends hesitated for a split of a second, Mai hoisted her rucksackfrom her shoulder and then stepped forward.

Funny thing to notice – but Yugi was still wearing his glove. As was Mai. As was Jonouchi.

"Hell of a day, yeah?" she said, sitting beside Yugi and waving aside the goon's help, strapping herself in with familiar motions. She handed away her sack, though, and the goon shoved it into the luggage compartment.

"Yeah," Yugi said, fingers twitching as if to pull out his deck again. He didn't and instead twiddled with his headphones, which Kemo had handed him. "Mai?" he asked, glancing up. "You used to work for a casino, right?"

"Well, I was a dealer on a luxury cruiser that  _had_  a casino," she said thoughtfully, pulling her own headphones on with a grimace. They'd ruin her hairdo but having the noise of the helicopter muffled was definitely welcome.

"You probably saw a lot of… um, people like Kaiba, and Pegasus, there?" Yugi asked.

Mai thought about it – and what he was actually getting at, probably. "Not precisely like them," she said finally. "Guys like Kaiba and Pegasus rarely go to casinos – you don't get to that level of rich by  _gambling_. But rich people, sure. Company executives and administrators, CEOs and presidents, major shareholders too. I've seen a whole slew of 'em."

Yugi nodded. "What do you think about this?" he asked then, as the others got strapped in.

"I think Pegasus was an asshole," Mai said simply.

Because he was – shoving all of this onto a lap of a teenager, one that had no experience and zero training to handle it? Kaiba was a different thing, he was part of a family business – he'd learned the craft from his family, from his father. Yugi, well. Mai had no idea what Yugi's family was like, but the kid had come to the tournament in his school uniform. That told her something.

Yugi's reaction told her more.

"But," she said slowly. "I think, if it has to be  _someone_  then… Pegasus really could've chosen worse."

Duel Monsters could endure at the hands of some greedy business magnate, easy enough – it was already a working, functioning model, and it wouldn't take much to keep it going, probably. Just keep doing what you were doing and everything was fine. But in the hands of a  _duellist_ , it would do more than endure.

Pegasus had been a lot of things and a duellist most of all – and that, Mai thought, was probably why the game was so damn successful. Because the guy had known what he had, intrinsically. He had  _known_  it. He had a  _passion_  for it, maybe even a love. It hadn't been just a product, the way it would be in the hands of some tycoon looking to make a profit – and that made all the difference.

Pegasus had probably been onto something, leaving the reigns in the hands of another duellist.

But with duellists, you got a lot of varying characters. Mai could easily admit she couldn't have done what Pegasus had. A guy like Jonouchi would trash the company in a couple of years. Keith would've bled it dry and destroyed it. Kaiba maybe could've done it, but to him Duel Monsters was a  _weapon_. He could've built an empire with Industrial Illusions, sure, he could make it bigger than  _great_ , but what kind of Duel Monsters would it be afterwards?

If it had to be someone…

"I think you, at least, won't ruin Duel Monsters," Mai said, looking down at the kid. "A lot of others would, but you won't – you know it too well and you respect it too much. I feel so damn sorry for you, Yugi, to have all this dumped on you – but at the same time? Yeah, it could be so much worse."

"That inspires a lot of confidence, thanks," Yugi said, but with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Mai said and looked past him at the window, as the doors were pulled shut and the helicopter made to rise up. Then she glanced at the kid. "How are you holding up?"

"Still kinda freaking out, but I don't feel like I'm going to pass out anymore, so… that's good, I guess," he answered, looking down at his hands, which he had now squeezed into fists. "It kind of feels like a dream, you know?"

"Yeah, it’s a lot of people's dream come true," Mai agreed. Hers too – except now she figured how freaking scary a dream like that could be. She'd take regular old lottery winning over this, any day. "Just out of curiosity, how much money is there in that will?"

Yugi just shook his head, and the helicopter grew noisier still as they took off, slowly rising above the castle and then the island itself. They all stared out silently, watching it from a bird's perspective. It looked smaller – and so much grander – when seen from on high.

"You own that place now, huh Yug?" Jonouchi asked from across the seats.

"Hm," Yugi agreed and cracked a little grin. "It's just a little place out of the way, nothing big. I'm thinking about renovating, though. The traps in the catacombs below are so yesterday."

Mai snorted at that, peering out the same as everyone else at the place where everything had changed. "You and Kaiba… you two are among the best duellists in the world," she commented idly, staring at the castle. "And now you and he are in control of its future and that, Yugi? That's kind of scary. But also… it kind of makes me giddy."

"Giddy?" Yugi asked, glancing at her.

"Yeah," Mai grinned. "I mean, if you do this thing, then… oh boy, the future of Duel Monsters is going to be  _amazing_. And I can't wait to see it."


	5. Silence

Yugi's ears were ringing by the time they got off the helicopter, and the pounding of his heart hadn't eased much. The whole flight had taken almost three hours – which compared to the full day and night it had taken on a ship to get to the island was definitely an improvement, if a very loud one. Still, the three hours hadn't been anywhere near enough to make him stop panicking, not even close.

"I thought we would go straight to the hospital. Don't they have helipads at hospitals?" Jonouchi asked after they'd landed at DominoCityAirport.

"Of course we can't just land on a hospital helipad. Those are for emergency service vehicles, Jonouchi," Anzu said with a roll of her eyes.

"We'll drive the rest of the way," Croquet said and motioned towards a – yes, it was a limousine, which was sitting not too far away from the helipad.

"You're kidding me," Yugi sighed. "There isn't a, you know, a normal car we could take?"

Croquet just looked at him blandly.

"Sure, it's a bit tacky. But think of it this way – free limo ride!" Honda said grinning, patting Yugi on the shoulder. "I call dibs on a window seat."

 _'It's not free, I probably own the thing. Or I've rented it. Or it's a company vehicle in which case I still pay for it,'_ Yugi sighed but moved forward, the others following closely after. The closer he got, the more… absurd it seemed. A limousine. Not even like Kaiba's limousine, no – this one was here for _him_. How did that even make any sense?

Croquet opened the door for him, showing the spacious interior of the car and Yugi climbed in, taking a seat on the fancy, ridiculously soft seats which were probably covered in real leather. It wasn't even an actual car seat – it was more like a _couch_ inside the car. The others followed him, oohing and aahing at the TV screen on the back of the driver's seat, the cooler, the _phone_ that sat on a hook on the wall and the other little luxuries the car was full of.

 _'If I'm going to do this thing,'_ Yugi thought to himself, shifting uneasily. _'Then the limousine's got to go.'_

"I don't know. You can fit a lot of people in here – and our group isn't exactly a small one," the spirit commented, appearing to sit beside him. He was looking at the others and Yugi did the same, idly counting heads. Jonouchi, Honda, Anzu, Bakura who was staring at everything with wide eyes, Mai – plus Kemo and Croquet though they'd taken seats in the front…

Yugi added the Kaiba brothers to the count and sighed again as the limousine smoothly moved from a standstill to movement. _'I guess,'_ he admitted. _'It's still way too fancy'_

"So, Yug," Jonouchi said, turning to him. "Now what?"

"I talk to Grandpa," Yugi said, leaning his head back. The Kame Game Store wasn't exactly a big business, but it was still a business which his grandfather had run for years. And before that, Grandpa had been a part time gambler and part time archaeologist, and thus had experience with some weird stuff. Like working with governments and associations and museums and yeah, companies too.

Grandpa would know… well, probably not quite what to _do_ , but he would know how to figure the whole thing out.

"Are you going to keep it?" Bakura asked. "Industrial Illusions that is?"

Yugi shrugged, not sure. It was way, way too big for him to even start wrapping his mind around it. "That's what I need to talk to Grandpa about," he said, rubbing a hand over his face. "Among other things."

"You gotta admit, it sounds like a pretty sweet gig," Jou commented.

"Yeah, well."

It didn't, actually. It sounded _scary as all get out_. How the hell Kaiba handled the knowledge that he was in charge of a huge company _all the time_ , Yugi had no idea. Just the very thought that maybe he could be unless he decided not, that… that scared the hell out of him.

Plus the knowledge that people like _Kemo_ worked for him? Hadn't the guy been a spy in Kaiba's company? Was he an Industrial Illusions worker originally, or a Kaiba Corp. employee that Pegasus had somehow gotten to switch sides?

 _'Oh god do I have to deal with industrial spying too, if I do this?'_ Yugi groaned silently in his mind.

"Well, your predecessor's industrial spying," the spirit said. "Whatever he did, however he conducted the business – it's not the way you ought to continue, if you do this."

 _'Yeah, but… who knows what other messes Pegasus left behind,'_ Yugi sighed and glanced at him. _'Do you think I should do this?'_

The spirit said nothing for a moment, thinking about it. "I think there's good and bad in the thought. I don't know which outweighs which. Pegasus probably did leave messes behind, if the way DuellistKingdom was conducted is any indication, they'll probably be bad. Plus there is the Millennium Eye and all the damage Pegasus might've caused with it to consider – he wasn't exactly careful in its use. At the same time… one could do a lot of good, with power like that of a multi-billion company."

 _'I didn't even think of the Millennium Eye,'_ Yugi thought with dismay. But then, he'd heard of it – hell, he'd witnessed first hand, hadn't he? The way Millennium Items left people just broken in their wake. The spirit probably had done it too – Yugi remembered an _unnerving_ number of his former bullies who had just up and gone insane since he completed the Puzzle. And Bakura had told about his old friends, how they'd just dropped into comas. And Pegasus – he stole people's souls with his Item.

"He spoke of a collection," the spirit said plainly. "You need more than _three_ for something to be called a collection."

Yugi closed his eyes for a moment, going through silent litany of curses. _'What do you think happened to it? The Eye? Shadi said someone stole it, but…'_

"I… have a suspicion."

Yugi did too – and it took some effort not to glance towards Bakura. Instead he opened his eyes and turned to look out of the window, trailing a finger over the Millennium Puzzle as he did. _'Do you think you could undo what Pegasus did, if there are… others?'_

"… I don't know. There was nothing I could do for Grandpa," the spirit sighed. "But the Eye is without a master right now, so maybe its power is weaker. It might be that what it's done is now undone. I just… I don't know."

Yugi said nothing to that. They were in the city now, the limousine weaving its way through the traffic and towards the general hospital.

"Jonouchi, should you call your mom?" he asked then, turning to the blond. "Tell her about the prize money and all that?"

"I'll go visit her after this – she won't believe me on the phone, not without seeing the cheque," Jou grinned sheepishly. "Hey, maybe you can drop me off after this? Coming home in a limo would go a long way to boost up my credibility."

"I guess," Yugi agreed, smiling awkwardly.

They arrived at the hospital both sooner and later than Yugi would've liked, the driver parking as close to the front entrance as possible. Croquet was instantly outside and opening the door and, with a sigh, Yugi climbed out of the stupidly comfortable car. Once everyone was out, the limousine drove off.

"The driver will take the limousine to the parking lot and return for us once you're ready to leave," Croquet said.

"Right," Yugi answered, trying to ignore how the people outside were staring at them. "Let's go see which room Grandpa is, then."

It was way too quiet in the hospital. It felt like everyone was staring at them – and they very well might've been. Croquet and Kemo flanked him like, well, a pair of bodyguards and they weren't exactly covert about it either, in their suits and sunglasses and ear pieces. It was kind of embarrassing and for a moment Yugi wondered what kind of spectacle it would make if this wasn't a hospital and was instead _school_.

Oh god _school_. If he did this then what would he do about school?!

"Calm down," the spirit murmured at his side, resting a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Let's just find Grandpa and talk this through with him."

 _'Yes, right,'_ Yugi nodded and turned to the others. "Could you guys wait here?" he asked. "I want to talk to Grandpa alone. It might take a while too."

"Yeah, of course, Yugi," Anzu said. "We can wait for you in the cafeteria."

"Take your time, man," Honda agreed.

"Thanks guys."

After finding where his grandfather was – and that he'd just recently been released from emergency to observation and that they wanted to keep him at least over the night. Croquet and Kemo followed him like two silent, intimidating shadows as Yugi made his way to the elevator and up to the floor where his grandfather's room was.

"I want you two to wait in the hall while I talk with my grandfather," Yugi said, leaning on his actual shadow who was giving the two Industrial Illusions employee a hard, unseen stare.

"As you wish," Croquet agreed amiably enough. "We will check the room first though."

"Check it?" Yugi asked.

"For potential dangers," Croquet said, giving him a look.

"In a hospital?" Yugi asked with disbelief.

"You never know. No matter how this pans out, you're one of the fifty wealthiest people on the planet, now," Croquet said simply. "You can't be too careful with money like that."

"R-right. But… no one knows yet, right? I mean, like, public-wise – it's not _out_ yet that I've inherited this stuff, right?" Yugi asked, trying very hard not to sound so desperate.

"It shouldn't be, everyone in the know – except for your friends – is fully vetted and ought to know better than to spread the word," Croquet said. "But you should never underestimate the interest people have for things like these. And nothing is quite as interesting as where the money goes when a rich man dies."

Yugi swallowed. "Right," he said again, and looked up as the door opened, and the elevator released them onto the fourth floor.

Grandpa's room was the sixth one and, like promised, Croquet and Kemo both stepped inside for the moment before stepping out again, nodding to Yugi. Judging by the confused looks of the three occupants inside, the security check up hadn't gone unnoticed, but Yugi ignored them and concentrated on the middle bed.

"Yugi!" Grandpa said, dropping the magazine he'd been reading. "What on – I thought you'd be another day at least. Didn't the tournament end just yesterday?"

"Yeah, it did," Yugi said, biting his lip. There was a drip going to his grandfather's arm and judging by the bruises there, a lot of blood had been drained too. He looked very pale too, sitting there in hospital pyjamas. He looked… fragile.

Yugi swallowed and then rushed into his grandfather's arms, the confusion and tension and all the pressure on his shoulders bursting out in a single, choked sob.

"There, there," the old man said, patting his hair gently. "I'm alright, everything's alright. It's just in case, the drip – they think I had a minor blood clot, see, and now they think I need some diluting. Bit of a bother really – I'm in and out of the bathroom all the time because of the dratted thing and let me tell you, dragging the drip around is annoying. There, there now…"

"I'm glad you're okay," Yugi sobbed against his chest. "I was so worried!"

"Nothing to worry about anymore. Just one more night here, and tomorrow I'll be back home and we can just put this whole thing behind us," Grandpa said and pushed him back. "Now, how did you get back so fast? Didn't the trip take a whole day – and night too – last time?"

"We got a ride on a helicopter; it was much shorter," Yugi sniffled, rubbing at his face. "And, us, it's not alright yet. I've got something to tell you. Pegasus –"

"Yugi," the spirit said sharply. "There are others here."

Yugi blinked and glanced up, to the other patients in the room. They both quickly looked away, pretending like they _hadn't_ been listening. "Right," he said and wiped his arm across his eyes. "Do you have paper?" he asked. "And a pen?"

"Paper?" Grandpa asked, looking confused. "Why?"

"I've got to write this down," Yugi said. "It's, ah… well. A bit of a secret right now."

Grandpa's eyebrows shot up at that, but he retrieved a writing pad and pen from the bedside table. Yugi took them and then… he didn't really have any idea how to put it down. How do you summarise the whole thing? Somehow writing down that Pegasus was dead and had made Yugi his heir just didn't seem to cut it.

"It's a way to start," the spirit commented.

  _What if Grandpa takes it badly?'_ Yugi asked nervously. _'He looks so… so pale! He might, I don't know, have a heart attack or something! I almost had a heart attack when I was told!'_

"Well, if he does he's already in the hospital," the spirit commented. "So he's in the best place to do it, really."

 _'That's not funny,'_ Yugi said, smothering the urge to glare at him.

"No. But it is true," the spirit said and shook his head. "Just write it down, Yugi and go from there."

After another moment of fretting, Yugi started writing it down.

His grandfather didn't have a heart attack – but judging by the way his eyes widened and how he gasped, it was a very close thing.


	6. Insanity

Jonouchi poked at the sandwich he'd bought from the hospital's cafeteria. It tasted about as bad as one could expect from hospital food. "So, uh," he said, glancing up at the others. "Now what?"

"Now we wait," Mai answered, stirring her coffee idly.

"For what? It's pretty much a done thing, isn't it? Yugi's gonna do it. He's gotta, I mean… the money alone –"

"It's not as simple as that," Mai said, leaning back. "Sure, there's probably a lot of money involved. But think about what Pegasus did. Duellist Kingdom was a mess. And there was that whole spying thing with Kaiba Corp, not to mention all the kidnapping and attempts of hostile takeover."

"Who knows what else Pegasus has been doing," Bakura agreed quietly. "And you know, even if it was just the money it's still pretty huge."

"Well… I got money now too," Jonouchi murmured.

"Yes, and a clear plan on what you're going to do with it," Mai said blandly. "Most of it, if not all of it, is going to your sister's operation and recovery, right? Does Yugi have a plan? Or a pressing _need_ for money, though?"

"Not as far as we know," Anzu admitted. "He did give the prize winnings to Jonouchi without a second thought, after all. You don't do that if you need it yourself."

"But money's a _good_ thing, isn't it?" Jonouchi asked, looking between them.

Mai snorted and shook his head. "I used to work in a casino on a cruise ship, remember? I've seen a lot of people who've suddenly come into money," she said. "Kids who found that they inherited a lot of money from now dead relatives, people who won big in a game, company executives after their company suddenly blasted into popularity – countless people who made it big in the stock exchange. The thing about that is that when you don't have a plan for it, then…"

 She shook her head. "Lots of people just waste it. They gamble it away, they spend it on expensive cars and clothing and around the world trips. They give it to their friends, they buy their lovers expensive gifts – they fall for scams. And suddenly it's all gone. And most cases it's not just gone – but they end up screwing themselves over. They get used to spending money and then it's gone and they end up in debt. Some of them very steep."

"Yugi's _not_ like that," Anzu said severely.

"No, I don't think he is," Mai agreed. "What he is, is smart. He _knows_ what he's got now. And he knows it's not necessarily a good thing."

"I still think it _is_ ," Jonouchi murmured, biting into his sandwich with a scowl. He could see what Mai was getting at, though. If he didn't know precisely where he wanted to put the prize money, then… well, he wasn't entirely sure what he would do. Probably… yeah, probably something stupid. Either that or he'd use all of it to buy Duel Monsters and while that seemed pretty tempting, it probably wasn't _that_ smart.

Mai just snorted at that and then looked at Anzu. "Do you think he's going to do it? Keep it, I mean. And not just the money."

"Well, it is his now – he can't exactly refuse it when he already owns it, can he?" Honda asked.

"He could disclaim it, just as you can disclaim any unwanted inheritance," Mai shrugged. "Do you think he will?"

Anzu thought about it for a while. "If… if Pegasus had a kid, or relative or someone who was more deserving, or… or something like that, yeah, I think he might," she said slowly. "Yugi's not the sort of guy who'll accept something when he knows someone else needs or deserves it more.  Case and point," she added, pointing at Jonouchi. "Did Pegasus have relatives?"

"I don't think so," Mai answered. "At least I've never heard of any – though admittedly I haven't exactly looked into it. Still I'm pretty sure it all would've gone to them if someone like that was still around."

"I kind of _hope_ Yugi will keep it," Bakura commented.

"Well, yeah, we all do, don't we?" Jonouchi said, glancing up. "It would make a nice change, to know a rich guy who isn't a douchebag like Kaiba."

"I wasn't really thinking about that. I meant…" Bakura trailed away and closed his eyes. "Yugi's a good guy. And Industrial Illusions isn't exactly a good company. Or at least the way Pegasus used it wasn't precisely good. Yugi could make a huge difference there."

"Yeah, and mob after Pegasus while he's at it," Mai commented. "You know, Kaiba has all reason to sue Industrial Illusions, right? It was all on Pegasus's orders maybe but… there was a whole lot of kidnapping and industrial spying and stuff going on during Duellist Kingdom. If Kaiba feels vindictive – and honestly I can't see him _not_ being vindictive – then Yugi will have to deal with that."

"Moneybags wouldn't," Jonouchi said, scowling. "Yugi saved him and his bro – he owes Yugi _big time_."

"The possibility is still there," Mai shrugged and sipped her coffee.

They were quiet for a moment, concentrating awkwardly on their snacks and drinks.

"If Yugi does this," Anzu said slowly. "What will it mean for us? I mean… Yugi will be a pretty important person. And pretty busy too."

"It won't change our lives any, will it? Well, we'll know a nice rich guy and who knows, maybe Yugi will let us have DM cards for free or something, but…" Honda trailed away, frowning. "Yugi will be really busy won't he?"

"Do you think he'll come back to school with us?" Anzu asked worriedly. "Kaiba's dropping out, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't been coming to school for a while anyway. Not since he started doing the hologram thing."

"He went to school?" Mai asked, surprised. "Kaiba Seto went to a _high school_? You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope, all true. He was in the same class as us," Jonouchi shrugged. "For a while anyway. He uh… there was a thing about a card – Yugi's gramps owned the last of the four Blue Eyes White Dragons, see, and Kaiba got pretty weird about it. It was a mess. Yugi beat him in a duel using, you know," he made a wiggly motion with his fingers. "That stuff. And Kaiba got weird afterwards. Stopped coming to school."

"Back then we figured he just got messed up over the whole losing the duel thing – and there was _that stuff_ involved too, and it makes everything weird. But that was probably when Kaiba started working on the hologram tech," Honda agreed.

"Huh," Mai answered. "What are the chances of Yugi and Kaiba going to the same school? Same _class_ nonetheless?"

"Kaiba really wasn't there for that long – he transferred just last term," Anzu said. "I hear he was home schooled before that."

"Oh, who cares about moneybags," Jonouchi waved the whole thing aside. "What about Yugi?"

"Like I said, we wait," Mai said. "It's not like we can do anything before we know for sure what he's going to do – and at any rate, I'm not sure what we can do afterwards, if anything."

"Yeah but we still need to, I don't know. Make a plan of attack? Or, er, a plan of support?" Jonouchi asked. "I mean whatever Yugi's gonna do, we're gonna help him, right?"

"Well… yeah, obviously," Honda said.

"Absolutely," Anzu agreed with a firm nod.

"Yeah, except… how, exactly?" Bakura asked, looking between them worriedly. "Sure we can cheer him on and stuff, but… this isn't a dual. Or school work – it's not like _we_ can help him cram for this. The problems he'll face, they're not things we can help him with. If he does this then we're sort of going to be… kind of useless?"

"No way man," Jonouchi glared at him. "For one, Yugi wouldn't ever think that – we're his friends! And for two. Uh. We'll make sure we're helpful. Somehow."

"Great plan," Honda agreed wryly. "Five stars."

"Oh shut up. I don't see you coming up with anything better!"

There was a moment of silence as _none of them_ could come up with anything better. Jonouchi looked between the others and then sighed, turning to his sandwich.

If Yugi did this – and he probably would, because, well, who wouldn't? If he did, then what did that actually mean for them? Yugi would be busy, he probably would stop going to school – there was a whole new slew of skills he'd have to learn. He'd be in charge of a huge company! Did people like that… have time for friends? Kaiba certainly didn't seem to think so – but Yugi was a whole different person with whole different values.

No way would Yugi abandon them.

Not intentionally anyway.

"Aren't Industrial Illusions' offices – I mean, their headquarters – in America?" Bakura asked quietly.

"Yeah," Mai agreed, sighing. "Yeah they are. As are the majority of their facilities and all that."

"Shit," Jonouchi murmured. "It's not gonna happen. Yugi's not going to move to another country. No way."

"It will still cause another set of troubles. Industrial Illusions is a US company," Mai said and shook her head. "So yeah, very much not a _simple_ situation."

"I wonder how the spirit is taking this all," Anzu mused out loud and then looked up. "Hey," she said, nudging at Mai's shoulder and nodding towards the elevators.

They all turned to see Yugi just stepping out of the elevator with his grandfather, Croquet and Kemo following closely behind. Jonouchi made to stand up at first, but at the sight of them making their way to a furthest corner of the entrance hall – and out of anyone's hearing range – he sat back down. Judging by all their expressions, some serious stuff was about to be discussed in private.

"Well, it's good to see Gramps is better," he said faintly, though the old man didn't _look_ that much better. He looked pale and why did he have a drip?

"Yeah," Honda said.

As they watched Yugi and the old man sat down while Kemo dragged a table over. Then Croquet, also sitting down, started pulling the papers and folders out again, for Sugoroku to leaf through. As he did, Yugi took out his deck again and started shuffling the cards nervously.

"Poor kid," Mai commented as they watched them.

"Yeah," Jonouchi agreed quietly and then narrowed his eyes. "What do you think Croquet's angle is on all this?" he asked, turning to the others. "Considering everything, isn't it kinda weird? I mean, he's being all. I don't know. Helpful?"

"Well, that's his job, isn't it?" Mai asked.

"Yeah, but wasn't he in the position to really screw this up for Yugi and maybe, like… take the whole thing all for himself?"

"There are legal things involved, probably. It's not like you can just brush something like a will under the rug," Bakura commented. "Besides, considering who Pegasus was, his will is probably iron clad. And I doubt Croquet has all the copies."

"It's still kind of weird, isn't it? Croquet's a bad guy, isn't he?"

"Not really. He's just doing his job," Mai said. "Pegasus was the bad guy and considering he wrote Croquet's pay cheque… Who knows, maybe Croquet likes the idea of working for someone who isn't a complete asshole."

"I guess there's that," Jonouchi muttered. "I still don't trust that guy."

"I don't think Yugi does either," Anzu commented.


End file.
